{"id":772883,"date":"2026-09-16T20:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T20:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772883\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T20:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T20:52:10","slug":"ex-bbc-presenter-john-humphrys-questions-role-of-royal-family-in-new-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/772883\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-BBC presenter John Humphrys questions role of Royal Family in new documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran broadcaster John Humphrys has said the people of the United Kingdom should “be able to choose our leaders” as he releases a documentary exploring the role of the Royal Family. <\/p>\n

Humphrys, who for decades was one of the most prominent faces on the BBC, is presenting a new Channel 4 documentary called The Royals: Time to Go?<\/p>\n

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast<\/a>, the Cardiff-born presenter said he “admires” King Charles III in many ways, but said it was a “matter of choice”. <\/p>\n

Buckingham Palace has been approached for comment. <\/p>\n

In the documentary, Humphrys speaks to both critics and supporters of the monarchy, and makes the case for electing a president as the head of state. <\/p>\n

He recalled seeing the late Queen Elizabeth II visiting Cardiff when he was growing up, watching her being driven down Newport Road. <\/p>\n

“My father didn’t attend and said he would never bend the knee to anyone. I guess that rubbed off on me,” he said.<\/p>\n

Humphrys asked why it was seen as such a taboo to call for an alternative to the Royal Family, saying that “we can because it’s a democracy”. <\/p>\n

“I know the monarch is not a political leader, but he is our leader, and we need to bow our knee to him.<\/p>\n

“That’s what I object to. Shouldn’t we get a choice?”<\/p>\n

He met the Queen throughout his career, including at Buckingham Palace where he said he spoke to her “and the corgis of course”. <\/p>\n

Humphrys, who presented the Nine O’Clock News, the Today programme and Mastermind throughout a decades-long career with the corporation, said he took the opportunity to ask her for an interview.<\/p>\n

“When I’d finished, she looked up at me and said just one word ‘no’ and I thought I could build on that,” he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran broadcaster John Humphrys has said the people of the United Kingdom should “be able to choose our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-772883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}